Saving home health care should be top priority

August 7, 2014

It's hard to ignore what is happening in Washington when it directly affects your well-being and that of your loved ones. An indiscriminate and unprecedented 14 percent cut to Medicare funding for home healthcare certainly got my attention, and I'm sure the attention of 3.5 million sick and elderly home health patients who rely on home heath.

Without access to home health, many older, more vulnerable Americans would have their care regimens interrupted and be subjected to riskier care facilities to receive treatment for chronic conditions, recover from injuries, or maintain their health. They would also become an even more expensive drain on the federal health system given higher costs, inefficiencies in care and expensive hospital readmissions, making reform even more crucial.

The recently introduced Securing Access Via Excellence (SAVE) Medicare Home Health Act is the answer. This legislation would effectively repeal the across-the-board cut to home health and replace it with a Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program to incentivize home health agencies to deliver high-quality care and reduce hospital readmission rates. It is a vital piece of legislation that will ensure vulnerable American seniors receiving home health are able to maintain access to the quality skilled care they need and remain independent at home.

We appreciate the actions of West Virginia's Representatives David McKinley and Shelly Moore Capito in their sponsorship and support of this legislation and hope others will do the right thing and cosponsor the SAVE Medicare Home Health Act.